Discontinue welfare schemes to farmers cultivating ganja in TS: Excise dept

Hyderabad: The Prohibition and Excise department has brought to the notice of the State government requesting to discontinue all the welfare schemes including Rythu Bandhu scheme to farmers who are facing cases for cultivating marijuana. The excise department has finalized the list of farmers after collecting relevant information from all the excise stations across the […]

Hyderabad: The Prohibition and Excise department has brought to the notice of the State government requesting to discontinue all the welfare schemes including Rythu Bandhu scheme to farmers who are facing cases for cultivating marijuana.

The excise department has finalized the list of farmers after collecting relevant information from all the excise stations across the State. “We have forwarded the list to the State government and the response is awaited,” an excise official said.

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The department forwarded the list based on the decision taken during a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao a few months ago to stop extending Rythu Bandhu scheme to farmers growing marijuana.

The cases were booked only after getting concrete information about the cultivation of marijuana followed by raids carried out in the fields. In erstwhile Mahbubnagar district, officials found marijuana cultivated in a 1.5 acres field owned by a farmer a few weeks ago.

The officials informed the matter to the district Collector and the agriculture department. The agriculture department officials later deleted the farmer’s name from the list of Rythu Bandhu beneficiaries with immediate effect.

“We have booked cases under the provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act even if farmers cultivated marijuana in smaller quantities,” the official said, adding that the department has taken a serious note of the sale and purchase of marijuana and other narcotic substances in the State.

He advised farmers not to fall in the trap of peddlers and land in trouble unnecessarily. Following a series of steps taken up by the department, a few farmers, who were into cultivation of marijuana earlier in Vikarabad and Sangareddy, stopped it after realizing the consequences. To crack the whip on peddlers, the excise department in coordination with the police officials is maintaining a constant vigil across the State borders to nab them.

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